Products & Services April 4, 2024

Product & Service Launches – 4/4/24

Voya expands NQDC offering for smaller employers; Fidelity Investments bolsters financial education; IRALogix partners with Benartzi’s PensionPlus; and more.

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Voya Expands NQDC Offering   

Voya Financial Inc. announced the launch of additional initiatives—marketed as “Business Ready”—to its lineup of nonqualified deferred compensation business.

Voya launched the additions to provide a simplified NQDC offering, specifically designed for smaller-size employers to offer a supplement for their executive benefits package, according to an announcement.  

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“At Voya, we continue to see a growing interest in our executive benefit solutions—so much so that in 2023 we saw a 117% increase in total plans sold in Voya’s NQDC offerings over the prior year,” said Kirk Penland, senior vice president of nonqualified markets, in a statement. “At the same time, we also know there is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to building an executive’s total rewards package.”

The offering is available to any Size 409A (for-profit) company but has been designed specifically for smaller employers, including those with less than 400 employees.

Fidelity Renews Commitment to Financial Education

Fidelity Investments announced a renewed commitment to financial education, activating several initiatives to bolster the continued engagement of its more than 74,000 associates with investors.  

“Improving financial literacy and building lifelong financial skills is the first step to financial mobility—and through financial mobility, we can strengthen financial futures for all and realize positive change for the next generation,” said Pamela Everhart, Fidelity’s head of regional public affairs, inclusion and impact, in a release.

Fidelity has launched the following initiatives:

  • FinEd champion program: This associate engagement resource will provide enhanced financial education training to volunteers so they can make direct student impact in classrooms in their community;
  • In-school learning opportunities for students and their families: Fidelity launched regional pilots in Boston and Covington, Kentucky, where it collaborates with public schools to offer financial education programming to students, teachers and families by coordinating classroom visits with Fidelity associates to share their expertise; and
  • Associate-driven innovation challenge: Fidelity will host an event inspired by the television show “Shark Tank” to foster ideas to advance and enhance youth financial education offerings for community partners.

IRALogix Partners With Benartzi’s PensionPlus

IRALogix Inc. announced a partnership with PensionPlus CEO and behavioral economist Shlomo Benartzi, offering a decumulation product for retirement plan assets. 

U.S. workers struggle to convert retirement savings into a retirement paycheck to last the rest of their lives, and in 2024 alone, 11,000 Americans are expected to turn 65 years old, according to the announcement. PensionPlus helps participants create a personalized retirement plan to create a sustainable paycheck with no transfer of assets, monitors the plan’s spending and withdrawals and makes automatic portfolio adjustments based on performance and inflation.

“Collaborating with IRALOGIX will allow PensionPlus to further its goal of democratizing retirement income planning for all participants, including the tens of millions of Americans relying on IRA accounts,” Benartzi said in a statement.

In 2023, OneAmerica and The Capital Group each announced partnerships with PensionPlus.

Confluence Adds Complex Asset Pricing Tool

Confluence Companies announced they have launched a complex asset pricing tool addressing hard-to-price assets, including credit default swaps, interest rate swaps and structured bonds.

The pricing tool is intended to support valuation processes of diverse portfolios, according to the announcement.

The pricing solution will benefit users through independent pricing, which is sourced from “leading firms”; easy integration to access data outputs through application program interface or file transfer protocol with existing infrastructure; and enhanced products coverage.  

The pricing tool addresses the following investment products, complementing Confluence’s existing suite of pricing products:

  • Credit default swaps, both single name and on liquid index;
  • Interest rate and inflation swaps;
  • Equity swaps and total return swaps;
  • Foreign exchange forwards;
  • OTC derivatives and options (FX, equity and commodity); and
  • A wide range of structured bonds and certificates.

Allianz Investment Management Launches Uncapped ETFs

Allianz Investment Management LLC announced the launch of the AllianzIM U.S. Equity Buffer15 Uncapped Apr ETF. The ETF suite is comprised of AllianzIM U.S. equity buffered exchange-traded funds with uncapped returns.

The AllianzIM suite of ETFs offers a 15% downside buffer over a specific one-year outcome period to allow investors to capture full market growth beyond a specified spread against the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, with no limit on returns, according to the announcement.

“During periods of bullish sentiment, investors increasingly seek strategies that can capitalize on the unlimited potential of equities, while still providing a level of protection against downside risk,” said Chris Chambs, CEO of AllianzIM, in a statement. “That’s exactly what our new Buffer15 Uncapped ETFs deliver. As markets shift with technological advancements and changing monetary policies, AllianzIM is committed to forward-thinking solutions that put our clients’ needs first.”

AllianzIm is a subsidiary of Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America.

Client Service April 4, 2024

Intellicents’ Budd On Financial Planning As the Next Workplace Benefit

Intellicents’ recently named retirement services president, Brandon Budd, says the firm is focused on low-cost, participant financial planning services as a key differentiator.

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Brandon Budd, who this March was promoted to president of retirement services for intellicents investment solutions inc., says one of the firm’s key focus areas is holistic financial planning for retirement plan participants akin to any other voluntary workplace benefit.

“We’ve failed, as an industry, if you look at how many people are truly prepared for retirement,” Budd says, shortly after being named to his new position from a role as a financial consultant.

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Getting employees to a secure retirement will take planning and saving correctly, but also addressing other issues such as tax management, budgeting and health care costs, he says. One way intellicents is doing that is through its ‘intellisteps’ financial health platform, which leverages participant data to target outreach related to financial planning.

Brandon Budd

“We think, and we’ve said this for a long time, the next-level voluntary benefit is financial planning,” he says. “That is a mission of ours, and that’s why we offer [it] at a discounted rate to our employers and their people that need it, because there are so many people who are looking for that additional support, and some of those individuals are unfortunately priced out.”

Another aspect of the strategy is having a “collaborative” relationship between the firm’s retirement plan advisement and wealth divisions. Unlike some firms that seem to separate the two divisions, Budd says intellicents’ retirement plan consultants and experts work with the plan sponsor, and certified financial planners work on participant-level education and guidance ranging from the 401(k) plan to Social Security, Medicare, tax planning, budgeting and other areas.

“We’re really trying to get deep and comprehensive on all of the other financial burdens and topics that every family and individual runs into on a daily basis,” he says.

‘Forever’ Company

Budd joined intellicents in 2018 after spending eight years working for national investment management and retirement plan providers American Century Investments, the Standard and TransAmerica.

In March, he took the role of head of retirement services from Grant Arends, the firm’s co-founder, who transitioned to president of intellicents investment solutions Inc., intellicents’ registered investment advisory. Arends started the firm with his brother, Brad Arends, who is CEO of both companies and a frequent commentator on retirement and financial planning.

Budd says his promotion is aligned with multiple other recent moves at the firm as it seeks to be a “forever” company with a long-term succession plan and an ongoing acquisition strategy.

In February, the firm promoted Mandie Scott from financial consultant to chief operating officer, leading the development and execution of business strategies and firm growth. In January, it expanded its wealth management team by adding True Wealth & Co., a Kansas City-area wealth management firm with $158 million in assets under management. Budd says intellicents will continue to look for acquisition opportunities that fit with its “culture and goals,” while also growing the business organically.

He also notes that the small plan and startup market is an area of focus for some of that growth, with SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 incentives and mandates helping to drive demand. Offering the firm’s “more institutionalized, large-plan services efficiently in the small-plan marketspace” is an area of opportunity, he says.

The Overland Park, Kansas-based firm is overseeing more than $5.17 billion in retirement plan assets and about $844 million in individual client AUM, according to its 2024 Form ADV filing.

Data Key

For financial planning to become a benefit similar to retirement or health insurance, Budd says both access and intelligent use of participant data and information are crucial.

“All of these employees have access to this information on their recordkeeper sites,” he says. “But the last thing anyone wants to do when they get home from a busy day is hop onto their 401(k) site and spend some time. You have to push that to them and make it easy for them.”

Through collaboration with the plan sponsor, Budd says intellicents can put participant information to work to provide personalized outreach and education.

“What we’re talking about is a huge push on the worksite that offers true, holistic planning, true financial wellness … and personalized service down to the individual personal level,” he says. “Any type of program that we roll out is going to be easy, efficient and not take a lot of uplift. Otherwise, it’s not going to work.”

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